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Free software scares normal people

danieldelaney.net

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Re: Free software scares normal people

#311

Post by kccqzy »

thadt wrote: post #89
kccqzy wrote: post #56

I think there is something deeper here: people have become scared of the unknown, therefore we need to hide things for them. But people don't have to be scared. In fact even for people who are using Handbrake comfortably, a lot of things Handbrake presents in its UI are probably unknown to them and can safely be ignored. The screenshot in the article shows that Handbrake analyzed the source video and reported it as 3…

Not scared , time limited. The world is a complicated place, and there is a veritable mountain of things a person could learn about nearly any subject. But sometimes I don't need or want to learn all those things - I just want to get one very specific task done. What I really appreciate is when an expert who has spent the time required to understand the nuances and tradeoffs can say "just do this." When it comes to t…

In my comment above I specifically did not expect the user to learn and understand everything, just the ability to ignore it. Handbrake has good defaults and the user would be successful if the only thing they do is: open the file and the press the green button.

And scared is the word used by the original author in the title. I want to understand that emotion. I don't need someone to tell me we can't learn everything.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#313

Post by f33d5173 »

robenkleene wrote: post #246
f33d5173 wrote: post #190

People want features, and they're willing to learn complicated UIs to get them. A software that has hyper simplified options has a very limited audience. Take his example: we have somebody who has somehow obtained a "weird" video file, yet whose understanding of video amounts to wanting it to be "normal" so they can play it. For such a person, there are two paths: become familiar enough with video formats that you un…

For this example: > we have somebody who has somehow obtained a "weird" video file Why are you arriving at the conclusion that this requires complex software, rather than just a simple UI that says "Drop video file here" and "Fix It" below? E.g., instead of your conclusion "stick to your walled-garden-padded-room reality where somebody else gives you a video file that works", another possibility is the simple UI I de…

The issue is that downloading a software, for most people, implies an investment in the task the software does that is unlikely to be paid off if it only does a single simple task. If I'm going out of my way to download something, then I'm probably willing to learn a few knobs that give me more control. Hence why I suggested that such a person would rather use a website.

This is really just my read for why this sort of software isn't more common. Go ahead and make it, and if it ends up being popular I'll look the fool.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#314

Post by hilong2 »

DrewADesign wrote: post #29
squeedles wrote: post #10

Good article, but the reasoning is wrong. It isn't easy to make a simple interface in the same way that Pascal apologized for writing a long letter because he didn't have time to write a shorter one. Implementing the UI for one exact use case is not much trouble, but figuring out what that use case is difficult. And defending that use case from the line of people who want "that + this little extra thing", or the "I j…

Overall, the development world does not intuitively understand the difficulty of creating good interfaces (for people that aren’t developers.) In dev work, the complexity is obvious, and that makes it easy for outsiders to understand— they look at the code we’re writing and say “wow you can read that?!” I think that can give developers a mistaken impression that other peoples work is far less complex than it is. With…

One thing I still struggle with is writing interfaces for complex use cases in an intuitive and simple manner that minimizes required movements and context switching.

Are there any good resources for developing good UX for necessarily complex use cases?

Re: Free software scares normal people

#315

Post by hobs »

rkunal wrote: post #278
graybeardhacker wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always tell clients (or users): "If you bring your car to the mechanic because it's making a noise and tell them to replace the belt, they will replace the belt and you car will still make the noise. Ask them to fix the noise." In other words, if you need expert help, trust the expert. Ask for what you need, not how to do it.

It is a common misconception that the "expert" knows the best. Expert can be a trainee, or may be motivated to make more for its organisation or have yet to encounter your problem. On the other hand, if you are using your car for a decade and feel it needs a new belt - then get a new belt. Worst case scenario- you will lose some money but learn a bit more about an item you use everyday. Experts don't have your instin…

If you don't trust the expert then why are you asking them to fix your stuff? It's a weird idea that you'd want an idiot to do what you say because you know better.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#316

Post by tombert »

gspencley wrote: post #98

A lot of this type of stuff boils down to what you're used to. My wife is not particularly tech savvy. She is a Linux user, however. When we started a new business, we needed certain applications that only run on Windows and since she would be at the brick and mortar location full time, I figured we could multi-purpose a new laptop for her and have her switch to Windows. She hated it and begged for us to get a dedica…

I grew up using Windows but have been using Linux and Mac almost exclusively for the past fifteen years; the only exposure I get to Windows is when I have to play tech support for my parents [1].

I hated OS X when I first used it. A lot, actually. I didn't consider leaving my job over it (I couldn't have afforded it at the time even if I had wanted to), but I did think about trying to do an ultimatum with that employer to tell them to buy me a computer with Windows or let me install Linux on the Macbook (this was 2012 so it had the Intel chip). I got let go from that job before I really got a chance (which itself is a whole strange story), but regardless I really hated macOS at the time.

It wasn't until a few years later and a couple jobs after that I ended up growing to really like macOS, when Mavericks released, and a few years later, I actually ended up getting a job at Apple and I refuse to allow anyone to run Windows in my house.

My point is, I think people can actually learn and appreciate new platforms if they're given a chance.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45708530

Re: Free software scares normal people

#318

Post by bugsliker »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #309
bugsliker wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t really understand what you’re arguing anymore. Is the average person afraid of the unknown or are they capable of ignoring things? You seem comfortable with the idea that a child not having this learned skill. I don’t know why you don’t extend that empathy towards the inexperienced in general.

My interpretation was that you're implying a big fraction of adults don't have this skill, that a typical non-technical person likely doesn't have it. I'm saying nearly every adult does have it. So I have empathy for those that truly lack it, the 1% of adults, but that empathy doesn't extend to the rest that aren't suffering that issue.

why would people choose to suffer a skill issue for a skill they have? that makes no sense to me and imo you're vastly underestimating this percent.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#319

Post by tastyfreeze »

hilong2 wrote: post #314
DrewADesign wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overall, the development world does not intuitively understand the difficulty of creating good interfaces (for people that aren’t developers.) In dev work, the complexity is obvious, and that makes it easy for outsiders to understand— they look at the code we’re writing and say “wow you can read that?!” I think that can give developers a mistaken impression that other peoples work is far less complex than it is. With…

One thing I still struggle with is writing interfaces for complex use cases in an intuitive and simple manner that minimizes required movements and context switching. Are there any good resources for developing good UX for necessarily complex use cases?

I am writing scheduling software for an uncommon use case.

The best method I have found is to use the interface and fix the parts that annoy me. After decades of games and internet I think we all know what good interfaces feel like. Smooth and seamless to get a particular job done. If it doesn't feel good to use it is going to cause problems with users.

Thats said. I see the software they use on the sales side. People will learn complexity if they have to.

Re: Free software scares normal people

#320

Post by zzyzxd »

Abstraction needs to happen on a different layer. Because your power users are already dealing with complicated stuff and you don't want to make their lives even harder.

I know about 10 people in real life that uses Handbrake. And 10 of them use it to rip Blu-ray discs and store media files on their NAS. It will piss them off if you hide all the codec settings and replace the main screen with a giant "convert to Facebook compatible video" button.

Instead, do it like how iina[1] packages mpv[2].

1. https://github.com/iina/iina

2. https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv

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